Checked 26 September 2026. From SBI advertisements CRPD/CR/2026-27/17 and CRPD/CR/SPLDRIVE/2026-27/16 and SBI’s careers listing (Internet Archive capture, 19 Sep 2026). Prelims dates are “tentative” per SBI.
“SBI Clerk” is the popular name for SBI’s Junior Associate (Customer Support & Sales) recruitment, and the 2026-27 round is unusual: it has two separate advertisements. The regular one (CRPD/CR/2026-27/17, dated 11 August 2026) offers 7,680 regular seats in 24 States/UTs, with the prelims tentatively on 26 and 27 September 2026. A separate Special Recruitment Drive (CRPD/CR/SPLDRIVE/2026-27/16, dated 7 August 2026) offers 1,538 seats for SC, ST and OBC candidates only. This guide sets out both, explains the different “total” figures online, and lists what changed from last year.
SBI advertisements CRPD/CR/2026-27/17 and /16; SBI careers listing.
Where other pages get this wrong
SBI’s 2026-27 regular advertisement has 7,680 regular vacancies; SBI prints no grand total including backlog.
Commonly published instead: “SBI Clerk notification 2026 out for regular vacancies (9,766 posts)” and “9,124 posts”.
Advertisement CRPD/CR/2026-27/17, p.2: regular 7,680, with separate backlog columns (SC/ST/OBC 287, PwBD 355, ex-servicemen 1,444). 9,766 and 9,124 are different sums of those columns.
The two advertisements
| Item | Regular (/17) | Special drive (/16) |
|---|---|---|
| Advertisement | CRPD/CR/2026-27/17, dated 11.08.2026 | CRPD/CR/SPLDRIVE/2026-27/16, dated 07.08.2026 |
| Who may apply | All categories | SC, ST and OBC (non-creamy layer) only |
| Seats | 7,680 regular (+ backlog columns) | 1,538 (SC 207, ST 1,219, OBC 112) |
| Registration | 11.08.2026 – 31.08.2026 | 07.08.2026 – 27.08.2026 |
| Prelims | Tentatively 26 & 27.09.2026 | Tentatively 16.09.2026 |
| Main | Tentatively November 2026 | Tentatively October/November 2026 |
| Fee | ₹750; nil for SC/ST/PwBD/ex-servicemen | OBC ₹750; others nil |
SBI advertisements /17 and /16; SBI careers listing (Internet Archive capture of 19 Sep 2026: regular prelims “tentatively scheduled for 26.09.2026 & 27.09.2026”; special drive “tentatively scheduled for 16.09.2026” — the advertisements themselves give only the month). Neither advertisement says whether one person may apply to both.
Which 2026-27 SBI Clerk advertisement covers my state?
SBI advertisements CRPD/CR/2026-27/17 (regular, 7,680 seats) and CRPD/CR/SPLDRIVE/2026-27/16 (SC/ST/OBC backlog, 1,538 seats). The special drive is open only to SC, ST and non-creamy-layer OBC candidates, and only where the advertisement shows seats for your category (shown in brackets). Registration for both has closed; this is for understanding your position.
Where the other “totals” come from
| Column in the regular advertisement | Seats |
|---|---|
| Regular vacancies (SC 1,114 / ST 837 / OBC 1,716 / EWS 760 / GEN 3,253) | 7,680 |
| Backlog — SC/ST/OBC (net of the special drive) | 287 |
| Backlog — PwBD | 355 |
| Backlog — ex-servicemen (XS + DXS) | 1,444 |
Advertisement CRPD/CR/2026-27/17, p.2. Our arithmetic: 7,680 + 287 + 355 + 1,444 = 9,766; 7,680 + 1,444 = 9,124. SBI calls PwBD and ex-servicemen reservation “horizontal” and does not say whether their backlog seats are extra to the category counts.
The honest way to state the size of the recruitment is the way SBI prints it: 7,680 regular seats, plus backlog columns, plus the separate 1,538-seat drive. Any single “total” is an aggregator’s addition, and different sites add different columns. The same happened last year, when 2025-26’s 5,180 regular seats were reported as both 6,589 and 5,583.
What changed from 2025-26
| Item | 2025-26 | 2026-27 |
|---|---|---|
| States with regular seats | 33 States/UTs | 24 — none in Delhi, Haryana, Punjab, Chandigarh, Uttarakhand, Bihar, Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Lakshadweep, Puducherry |
| Inter-state / inter-circle transfer | Only intra-state moves between two circles in Haryana, UP and Maharashtra | Regular: none before 5 years’ service, then only on extreme compassionate or spouse grounds. Special drive: only intra-state moves between two circles in UP and Maharashtra |
| CIBIL (loan default) clause | Unregularised defaulters ineligible | No CIBIL clause |
| Special drive | None | 1,538 SC/ST/OBC seats |
| Age window | Born 02.04.1997 – 01.04.2005 | Born 02.04.1998 – 01.04.2006 |
| Graduation by | 31.12.2025 | 31.12.2026 |
SBI advertisements 2025-26/06 and 2026-27/17. The pattern, fee and pay scale are unchanged.
The state list is the change that matters most. A candidate from Bihar, Delhi or Kerala has no regular seat at home this year — only the special drive’s SC, ST or OBC seats in some of those states. Since a candidate may apply for only one State/UT and must pass that state’s language test — unless a Class 10 or 12 mark sheet shows they studied the language, which exempts them — the home state usually decides the application.
The transfer change is also narrower than some pages report. The five-year rule is in the regular advertisement. The special drive, published four days earlier, carries last year’s style of wording instead: no inter-circle or inter-state transfer, except intra-state moves between the Delhi and Lucknow circles in Uttar Pradesh and between the Mumbai Metro and Maharashtra circles in Maharashtra. The same special-drive paragraph also says its Uttar Pradesh seats are “under Lucknow Circle only”. Read the clause in the advertisement you applied under.
How the 7,680 regular seats are split
| Category | Regular seats | Share (our arithmetic) |
|---|---|---|
| SC | 1,114 | 14.5% |
| ST | 837 | 10.9% |
| OBC (non-creamy layer) | 1,716 | 22.3% |
| EWS | 760 | 9.9% |
| General | 3,253 | 42.4% |
| Total | 7,680 | 100% |
SBI advertisement CRPD/CR/2026-27/17, p.2, column totals. Shares are ours, rounded to one decimal.
SBI advertisements CRPD/CR/2026-27/17 and /16.
Persons with benchmark disabilities and ex-servicemen are counted differently. SBI says their reservation “is horizontal reservation and these are included in the vacancies of various parent categories” — so the regular PwBD and ex-servicemen seats below sit inside the 7,680, not on top of it. The backlog columns are printed separately, and the advertisement does not say whether they are extra seats or also horizontal. That silence is why no single “total” can be taken at face value.
| Group | Inside the 7,680 | Backlog column |
|---|---|---|
| PwBD — visually impaired | 91 | 76 |
| PwBD — hearing impaired | 83 | 113 |
| PwBD — locomotor disability | 76 | 80 |
| PwBD — clauses (d) & (e) | 70 | 86 |
| Ex-servicemen (XS) | 760 | 964 |
| Disabled ex-servicemen / dependants (DXS) | 333 | 480 |
| SC / ST / OBC backlog | — | 58 / 161 / 68 = 287 |
SBI advertisement CRPD/CR/2026-27/17, p.2 and p.3. PwBD reservation is 4% and ex-servicemen 10% + 4.5% (disabled ex-servicemen and dependants) = 14.5%. The printed seats come to 4.2%, 9.9% and 4.3% of 7,680 — our arithmetic; the small gaps come from rounding state by state.
Where SBI publishes the official updates
The advertisement says all further announcements “will only be published/provided on SBI authorized website https://sbi.bank.in/web/careers”. In practice everything sits in the Junior Associate block of the Current Openings page: advertisements, corrigenda, call-letter links, the “Acquaint Yourself” booklets, marks utilities and result PDFs. One caution: when we fetched that page fresh on 25 September 2026, it had no Junior Associate block at all, while an Internet Archive capture from 19 September showed both 2026-27 blocks and the 26–27 September prelims notice. The documents themselves still download from sbi.bank.in. If the page looks empty, it is the listing that is stale, not the recruitment.
| What | Where | Detail |
|---|---|---|
| Advertisements | Careers → Current Openings → Recruitment of Junior Associates 2026 | Regular /17 and special drive /16, with corrigenda if any |
| Call letter + “Acquaint Yourself” booklet | Same block; registration number and password or date of birth | “Tentatively from 10 days before the exam date”; nothing sent by post |
| Your marks | Marks utility (roll number, date of birth, CAPTCHA) | How SBI published marks in 2024-25 and 2025-26; no cut-off PDF |
| Final result and wait lists | PDF roll-number lists | All-India lists, no state or category column |
| Pre-examination training | Online; login with registration number and date of birth | For SC/ST/OBC/ex-servicemen/PwBD candidates who opted for it |
| Helpdesk | 022-22820427 (11:00–17:00, bank working days) or cgrs.ibps.in | Write “Recruitment of Junior Associate-2026” in the subject |
SBI advertisement CRPD/CR/2026-27/17 (sections 9, 15, 17 and “Call letters”); SBI Current Openings, live and Internet Archive capture of 19 Sep 2026. SBI’s advertisement also states that it does not endorse any coaching platform or channel claiming guaranteed selection or insider guidance.
Between the prelims and the Main
The gap is short. SBI says only “November 2026” for the Main. In the last cycle the prelims ran in September 2025 (20, 21 and 27 September are reported by Testbook; SBI’s own page says only “September 2025”) and the Main was on 21 November 2025 — about eight weeks after the last prelims day. In 2024-25 the prelims ended around 1 March 2025 (reported by GovtJobGuru; SBI says “Feb/March 2025”) and the Main was on 10 and 12 April — about six weeks. The shortlist comes out part-way through that gap, so waiting for it before starting Main-only subjects costs weeks.
| Step | What SBI says |
|---|---|
| Prelims call letter | Not collected at the venue; stamped by exam staff with a copy of your ID. Keep both — you must bring them to the Main. |
| Photographs | Two extra copies at each exam; SBI advises keeping at least eight copies of the uploaded photograph. |
| Shortlist | About 10 times the vacancies, state- and category-wise, on prelims aggregate — no minimum marks. |
| Main call letter | Tentatively from 10 days before the Main. |
| Main | Tentatively November 2026 (special drive: October/November 2026). |
| New in the Main | General/Financial Awareness (50 marks) and computer aptitude, which the prelims does not test. |
SBI advertisement CRPD/CR/2026-27/17 and the Main booklet of November 2025. Gap lengths are our arithmetic from SBI’s dates and reported prelims dates.
General/Financial Awareness is a quarter of the Main (50 of 200 marks), and it cannot be crammed in the last week: it covers banking and financial current affairs across months. Computer aptitude sits inside the 60-mark Reasoning & Computer Aptitude test. Both are new after the prelims, which is why the planner below gives them hours from today.
SBI Clerk Main planner (assumed November dates)
Choose your likely exam day and how many hours a week you can study. The planner counts the weeks left from today and splits your total hours across the paper.
The three dates are placeholders inside SBI’s “November 2026” — SBI has not fixed the Main date. Hours are split by the Main’s marks: 50/200, 40/200, 50/200 and 60/200 (25%, 20%, 25%, 30% — our arithmetic).
Timeline of recent cycles
| Cycle | Advertisement | Main | Final result | Wait lists |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 17.12.2024 | 10 & 12 April 2025 | 11.06.2025 | 12.08.2025, 24.10.2025, 05.02.2026 |
| 2025-26 | 06.08.2025 | 21 November 2025 | 27.02.2026 | 18.06.2026 (first) |
| 2026-27 | 11.08.2026 | November 2026 (tentative) | — | — |
SBI advertisements, marks pages and result PDFs. Advertisement to final result took about six to six and a half months in the last two cycles.
SBI advertisements (regular column only).
Practise it, don't just read it
The prelims is 100 questions in an hour — 20 minutes per section — so speed on number series, simplification and reading comprehension decides the shortlist. Our SBI Clerk quizzes drill exactly those.
The ProSyllabus SBI Clerk library has topic quizzes on number series, simplification and approximation, reading comprehension, computer aptitude, quantitative aptitude and general English — the first quiz is free.
How many vacancies are in SBI Clerk 2026?
7,680 regular seats in the main advertisement, plus backlog columns, and 1,538 in the separate SC/ST/OBC drive.
Is the SBI Clerk 2026 vacancy 9,766?
No — that adds all backlog columns to the 7,680 regular seats; SBI prints no such total.
When is the SBI Clerk 2026 prelims?
Tentatively 26 and 27 September 2026 for the regular advertisement; 16 September 2026 for the special drive.
When is the SBI Clerk 2026 Main?
Tentatively November 2026.
Which states have no SBI Clerk regular vacancy in 2026?
Delhi, Haryana, Punjab, Chandigarh, Uttarakhand, Bihar, Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Lakshadweep and Puducherry.
What is the SBI Clerk special recruitment drive 2026?
A separate advertisement with 1,538 backlog seats for SC, ST and OBC (non-creamy) candidates.
Is the CIBIL rule removed in SBI Clerk 2026?
The 2026-27 advertisement contains no CIBIL clause.
Can SBI Clerks transfer to another state?
Under the 2026-27 regular advertisement, not before 5 years of service, and then only on extreme compassionate or spouse grounds. The special drive allows only intra-state moves between two circles in Uttar Pradesh and in Maharashtra.
How are the 7,680 SBI Clerk seats split by category?
SC 1,114, ST 837, OBC 1,716, EWS 760 and General 3,253.
Are PwBD and ex-servicemen seats extra to the 7,680?
No — SBI says their reservation is horizontal and included in the parent categories. Whether the backlog columns are extra is not stated.
Where is the SBI Clerk 2026 result published?
In the Junior Associate block of SBI’s Current Openings page, as roll-number PDFs, with marks through a login utility.
What should I do after the SBI Clerk prelims?
Keep the stamped prelims call letter and ID copy for the Main, and start General/Financial Awareness and computer aptitude, which only the Main tests.
How long is the gap between SBI Clerk prelims and Main?
About six to eight weeks in the last two cycles; SBI says only “November 2026” for this Main.
What is the SBI Clerk post called officially?
Junior Associate (Customer Support & Sales), in the clerical cadre.
Is SBI Clerk the same as SBI PO?
No — Junior Associate is the clerical post; PO is the officer recruitment.
Can I still apply for SBI Clerk 2026?
No — registration closed on 31 August 2026 (27 August for the special drive).
More in this series
Sources
- official — SBI — Junior Associates detailed advertisement CRPD/CR/2026-27/17 (11.08.2026)
- official — SBI — Special Recruitment Drive advertisement CRPD/CR/SPLDRIVE/2026-27/16 (07.08.2026)
- official — SBI — Current Openings, 2026-27 Junior Associate blocks (Internet Archive capture, 19 Sep 2026)
- official — SBI — Junior Associates advertisement CRPD/CR/2025-26/06 (06.08.2025)
- official — SBI — Junior Associates advertisement CRPD/CR/2024-25/24 (17.12.2024)
- official — SBI — Junior Associates advertisement CRPD/CR/2023-24/27
- official — SBI — Junior Associates Main “Acquaint Yourself” booklet (November 2025)
- official — SBI — Main marks page 2025-26 (“Main Examination held on 21st November 2025”)
- official — SBI — Main marks page 2024-25 (“held on 10th & 12th April 2025”)
- official — SBI — Junior Associates final result 2025-26 (27.02.2026)
- official — SBI — Junior Associates final result 2024-25 (11.06.2025)
- reported — Bankersadda — SBI Clerk notification (reported; see corrections)
- reported — Oliveboard — SBI Clerk notification (reported; see corrections)
- reported — Testbook — SBI Clerk 2025 prelims dates (reported)
- reported — GovtJobGuru — SBI Clerk 2024-25 prelims dates (reported)
official = a document published by the conducting body. reported = a news or coaching site we could not check against an original. Where sources disagree this page says so rather than picking one.
